Providence coach Jay Biesterfeld is a successful insurance salesman.

His greatest sales pitch, however, might have come on the softball field in early April.

Biesterfeld’s great expectations for the season saw an immediate bump in the road when the Celtics were 0-4.

His reaction? Look in the mirror.

“Truthfully, we were definitely concerned as a coaching staff,” Biesterfeld said. “I just kind of looked back at what we had done the previous year (23 victories) with a lot of the same kids.

“We were definitely in a position where we felt, ‘OK, what are we not doing well as a staff?’ We knew we had the talent to do better than what we were doing.”

The answer? An emphatic but encouraging push.

“I would say emphatic and encouraging would be good words,” Biesterfeld said with a laugh. “We didn’t need to be mean. We just needed to push them a little more.

“We had a group that was a lot about having fun and being together and playing loose. I think that worked well for them, but we also needed to make sure that we pushed them to be competitors. We just stressed hard work in practice and raising expectations for themselves.”

The Daily Southtown 2018 Coach of the Year eventually got what he was looking for from his team.

Providence (29-12) went on to have a successful regular season, then capped the playoffs with a run to a Class 3A third-place finish for the second time in program history.

The Celtics showed their ultimate mettle, coming back from deficits three times to beat Mount Zion 16-15 in one of the wildest third-place games in state softball history.

“I think we showed we belonged downstate,” Biesterfeld said. “Our loss in the semifinals (8-1 to Kaneland) was not our best game, but the kids came back ready to play.”

Biesterfeld, who has been the coach at Providence since 2005, has a 313-183-2 career record. He has had just two losing seasons.

He started his coaching career right after graduating high school from Illinois Lutheran.

“A friend of mine was coaching his daughter’s in-house team and he was looking for someone to help him,” Biesterfeld said. “I helped him out that year and the next season. Then a group of parents asked if I’d start a 14-U travel team. It went from there.”

Biesterfeld proved to be a natural, with a coaching style that Celtics senior Taylor Young described as “super-supportive.”

“I personally love playing for coach,” Young said. “Players can be so different, but he does a very good job of getting the best out of anyone.

“He knows how to help the person get to where they need to succeed, and I think that’s a characteristic that not many coaches have. He supports you no matter what.”

Biesterfeld coached at Rich South from 1998-2002. Providence legends Matt Senffner and Nan Airola gave him his break at the New Lenox school.

“It’s a great school to coach at,” Biesterfeld said. “I think the way they run their athletic department, as well as the way they operate their school, is as good as you are going to find in Illinois. To be a part of the history and tradition that they have there is something I was really excited about.

“Hopefully, they are proud of our program and what we’ve done over the last 14 years. We definitely take pride in representing Providence.”